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It is believed that the Aztecs began as hunter-gathers from the north. When they settled in the south-central part of Mexico, the Toltec Civilization was collapsing. This all took place around the beginning of the thirteenth century.
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In 1325 A.D. the Aztecs saw an eagle sitting atop a cactus and took it as a sign to build their city there. The sign that they saw came right next to Lake Texcoco. They put in much hard work to build the city that was Tenochtitlan. The land here was swampy and wet, which was good for farming.
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In 1428 the Aztecs were ruled by Itzcoatl. He led them to join with the Texocans and and the Tacobans to defeat the Tepanec. They were able to conquer the Tepanec capital city.
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In 1440, Itzcoatl was replaced by Montezuma I. Montezuma I was considered to be a great warrior. He was also was known by many as the “Father of the Aztec Empire”. Under his rule the Aztec civilization was at its prime.
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1502 (- 1520) Montezuma II comes to power. He was a great warrior who had been defeated only twice, by the Tarascan and the Tlaxcalan. He, however, was killed by Spanish jailers.
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It was in early 1517 that the first European, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba set foot in Mexico. He came with three ships and 100 men. After his journey he reported what he discovered to the Spanish Government, which led them to send more explorers to Mexico.
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In 1519, March 1519 to be exact, Hernan Cortes came to the town of Tabasco where other natives told him about the Aztec empire. Cortes built a town known as Veracruz. It was here where he trained his army and joined forces with Aztec rivals.
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November 1519-- Hernan Cortes and his men arrived at Tenochtitlan. Cortez acted like he was befriending the Aztecs when he first came. He was able to take Montezuma hostage and begin taking over the civilization.
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August 1521-- Fall of Tenochtitlan was very well the fall of the Aztec empire. It was a battle between Hernan Cortes(with help from other tribes), from Spain and the Aztecs. The Spaniards used weapons and tactics that completely countered the Aztecs. After the city fell the rest of the empire was taken easily.
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1522-- New Spain's Capital was built, Mexico City. It was built on what used to be Tenochtitlan. Mexico City is now the capital a Mexico.
